From the Assistant State Librarian

I would like to introduce you to the staff who make it possible for you to receive audio and braille books. Most of you know your Reader Advisor, but one person does not provide the service you receive. You are fortunate to have a dedicated team working to ensure that you receive the books you want.

Karen Duenwald is the Reader Advisor for children and teens. She also works with the schools. In addition to audio books, Karen is responsible for ensuring that students receive the textbooks they need for school.

Josh Easter is the AV Coordinator, Machine Agent, and Volunteer Coordinator. Josh is the one who makes sure that you have a machine that works. He is also responsible for our volunteer program. The volunteers record local books and magazines.

Julie Johnson pulls almost 2,000 books every week, checks them out, and prepares them to be mailed. Julie also works with the withdrawing of old books from the collection.

Marcia Kaup is the Reader Advisor for everyone whose last name is between O and Z. She also serves as the Reader Advisor for everyone in a nursing home or assisted living, and with all the institutions we serve.

Mary Sjerven is the Reader Advisor for everyone whose last name is between A and N. When Mary isnâ€™t receiving calls from patrons, she is making calls to patrons. We want to make sure you are happy with the service you receive.

Mike Smith checks-in and shelves all of the books that are returned by our readers. He also downloads books to add to the collection, checks-in new titles, and provides quality control for locally produced books.

Connie Sullivan coordinates the daily operation of the Braille and Talking Book Program to ensure efficient delivery of service. She also maintains the collection, ensuring that books can be found in the catalog and that books no longer used are removed from the collection.

The number one priority of the Braille and Talking Book staff is service to our patrons. Nothing pleases the staff more than to hear that someone was thrilled with the books they received.

It is my great pleasure to be able to work with the dedicated staff of the Braille and Talking Book Program.

— Colleen

Talking Book Topics: Transition from Cassette to Cartridge

Beginning with the Januaryâ€“February issue of Talking Book Topics (TBT), some subscribers who were receiving the magazine on cassette will now receive it on cartridge. For a time some individuals will receive TBT on both cassette and cartridge. Those who do receive TBT on cassette will continue to get the order form with their magazine. Patrons who receive the magazine on cartridge may receive the order form either before or after the cartridge arrives in the mail.

The transition from cassette to cartridge should be complete by the middle of the year.

New Version of BARD

Recently the National Library Service updated BARD. If you use BARD you will have noticed a few changes.

Web-Braille is now part of BARD. On every page containing books or magazines, you'll find links to both audio and braille titles. Audiobooks are always listed first. If you only want to see one type of book, you can set this up by choosing the Update Account Settings link on the BARD main page and then making your choice in the Display Results box. You can choose to display Audio Only, Braille Only, or Both. This page also gives you the option to display the site in color or black and white, which may help some of you to see it better.

Braille books are in zip files. Each zip file containsall the volumes of that book. So to read a braille book, unzip the book to a folder, copy that unzipped folderâ€™s contents to a braille-aware notetaker or computer with a braille display, open the volume you want, and start reading.

Braille music scores and audio music instruction courses are now on BARD. So are books, both braille and audio, that are produced by NLS network libraries.

BARD book listings are formatted as they always were, except that each book title is now a link. If you choose that link, you go to a page with several new features. These include:

The author's name is a link that takes you to a page displaying all the books on BARD by that author.

If the book is part of a series, there is a Series link that will take you to a page listing all the books on BARD in the series. Note that this section is still under development, so not all books in the series may be listed.

If the book is listed under more than one subject, all the subjects are listed, and each is a link to all the books on BARD with that subject. This also means that if you browse by subject on BARD, Bestseller will now include all books with the subject Bestseller.

The narrator's name is a link that will take you to a page listing other books read by that narrator.

There is a link that will add the book to a wish list. This is handy if you don't want to download the book now but would like to be able to locate it later.

There are additional details, such as the book's ISBN.

You can now see a list of all the books and magazines you have downloaded. To do this, follow the My Previous Downloads link on the main page. The My Wish List link is there, too. For a more detailed description of the changes, visit nlsbard.loc.gov

Bookshelf Feature on the Digital Player

If your book cartridge or flash drive has several books or magazine issues loaded on it, you can jump from book to book or magazine to magazine by using the Bookshelf feature on your player. To activate this feature on a cartridge or flash drive currently inserted into the digital player, hold down the green Play/Stop button for about three seconds until the machine says "Bookshelf."

Now you can use Rewind or Fast Forward to go from book to book or magazine. When you hear the announcement for the book or magazine issue you wish to hear, press the green Play/Stop button to listen to that book or magazine.

Book Club

The Braille and Talking Book Program would like to start a book club. It would be held in the winter months, January â€“ April. A different book would be read each month. For the first year staff would select the books that would be read. In the future, members of the book club would decide on the titles to be read. The book club would meet one evening a month to discuss that month's book. The discussion would be held via conference call. Members would be provided with the phone number to call. The only technology you would need to join the book club is a telephone!

If you would be interested in joining the book club, please call your Reader Advisor and let them know. The number to call is 1-800-423-6665. If there is enough interest we will get this year's book club started March 1st.

Kids/Teen News

Scholarships Available to Students with Low Vision

CCLVI Scholarship Announcement:

The Council of Citizens with Low Vision International (CCLVI) will award three scholarships in the amount of $3,000 each to full-time entering freshmen, undergraduate and graduate college students who are low vision, maintain a strong GPA and are involved in their school/local community.

Application materials must be received by March 1. Scholarship monies will be awarded for the 2013 - 2014 academic year.

Applications will be available to submit on-line until March 1 at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time. Questions may be directed to CCLVI at (800) 733-2258.

The Prairie Trails Newsletter is our means of communication with all patrons of the Braille and Talking Book Program. The Prairie Trails Newsletter is made available on audio and also in braille, in large print, or on a diskette upon request and is posted on our website.

If you have any questions or comments you would like to address, or wish to request this newsletter in an alternative format, please contact the SD Braille and Talking Book Program.